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Winfield: Living in the Shadow of the Woolworths
Monica Randall grew up on the Gold Coast of Long Island and was fascinated by the massive estates and their tantalizing stories. Millionaire F. W. Woolworth built Winfield, the grandest of its manors in the 1910s. On a clear day, you can see the New York City skyline from its balustraded roof, yet for nearly a century few have been allowed to enter its gates.
In the 1960s Monica was living in one of the fabled mansions built by a Five-and-Dime heiress. While there, she began a career scouting locations for movie; she used many of the surrounding estates including Winfield. After a brief incarnation as a charm school, Winfield was closed and auctioned off. At the auction, Monica met a mysterious European businessman, who bought the house. After a whirlwind romance, they became engaged, and Monica moved in to Winfield, only to have her suspicions confirmed: Winfield is haunted. Amid magnificent gilded carvings and marble, a labyrinth of secret passageways, hidden chambers, and deserted tunnels help reveal the true nature of its eccentric builder.
Through exhaustive research and countless interviews, Monica gradually uncovered stories of the Woolworths’ sad past: the suicide of Edna Woolworth (Barbara Hutton’s mother), Woolworth’s obsession with Napoleon and the Egyptian occult, and the rumors surrounding the unsolved fire which burnt the first Winfield to the ground. This riveting memoir explores the culture and history of an era gone by, filled with enthralling stories of infamous scandals and breathtaking Gilded Age tales of New York society. Captivating and impossible to put down, this book will enchant readers everywhere.
Throughout the last fifty years the Gold Coast mansions were regularly razed for subdevelopments; Winfield is the last of the marble palaces still standing.
In the 1960s Monica was living in one of the fabled mansions built by a Five-and-Dime heiress. While there, she began a career scouting locations for movie; she used many of the surrounding estates including Winfield. After a brief incarnation as a charm school, Winfield was closed and auctioned off. At the auction, Monica met a mysterious European businessman, who bought the house. After a whirlwind romance, they became engaged, and Monica moved in to Winfield, only to have her suspicions confirmed: Winfield is haunted. Amid magnificent gilded carvings and marble, a labyrinth of secret passageways, hidden chambers, and deserted tunnels help reveal the true nature of its eccentric builder.
Through exhaustive research and countless interviews, Monica gradually uncovered stories of the Woolworths’ sad past: the suicide of Edna Woolworth (Barbara Hutton’s mother), Woolworth’s obsession with Napoleon and the Egyptian occult, and the rumors surrounding the unsolved fire which burnt the first Winfield to the ground. This riveting memoir explores the culture and history of an era gone by, filled with enthralling stories of infamous scandals and breathtaking Gilded Age tales of New York society. Captivating and impossible to put down, this book will enchant readers everywhere.
Throughout the last fifty years the Gold Coast mansions were regularly razed for subdevelopments; Winfield is the last of the marble palaces still standing.
- GenresMemoir
276 pages, Hardcover
First published May 21, 2003
58 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
September 22, 2023
If a book is well written or intriguing enough to recommend, I give a 5 star review. This book doesn’t completely deserve it because (although it’s supposed to be true) some of the writing seemed hokey and sensationalized. The author would have been too scared to stay in this house—but she did. Alone!? The story is still worth reading if you like ghosts and the history of Napoleon.
On a side note, I wonder if the author had just taken a course on narrative descriptions because the characters said things glumly, tauntingly, belligerently, dryly, grudgingly, listlessly, imperiously, haughtily, condescendingly, flippantly, officiously, woodenly, softly, emphatically, dispassionately, somberly, irritably, dully, exuberantly, and unconvincingly. Yes, I kept track about half way though the book. It was too obvious not to.
On a side note, I wonder if the author had just taken a course on narrative descriptions because the characters said things glumly, tauntingly, belligerently, dryly, grudgingly, listlessly, imperiously, haughtily, condescendingly, flippantly, officiously, woodenly, softly, emphatically, dispassionately, somberly, irritably, dully, exuberantly, and unconvincingly. Yes, I kept track about half way though the book. It was too obvious not to.
April 27, 2015
This was a really fun read. A great ghost story about a really cool house, and a fascinating family.
June 19, 2020
Wow! Mr. Worthworth was certainly strange! A super book about the life of the five-and-dime store man and his very peculiar hobbies (he wanted to align up with Napoleon) and go back to ancient Egypt. The house is positively fabulous and is a huge part of this book. The strange goings on inside Winfield while Ms. Randall lived there make for fascinating reading. You can visualize the rooms filled with furniture and the old organ playing, the ballroom full and the gardens at their best.
All in all a great summer read with lots to imagine.
All in all a great summer read with lots to imagine.
October 13, 2017
An amazing read that was so creepy I couldn't believe it was a true story.
Great for history buffs who like spooky stories about rich millionaires
Great for history buffs who like spooky stories about rich millionaires
August 7, 2019
A more perfect piece of armchair salvage adventuring, I cannot imagine.
February 6, 2009
Okay, I admit it: I have a serious thing for real estate porn, so I ate up the the first half of this book with a spoon. I envied the author her childhood in that area of Long Island, being able to visit and explore so many magnificent estates while they still stood. The Poodle Bandit story was hilarious, but her reports of the mansions that fell under developers' bulldozers with all their out-of-fashion furnishings and art still inside were kind of heart-breaking.
The second half, however, was loaded with psychics and numerology and reincarnation and malevolent spirits and there was a lot of eye-rolling on my part because I'm not into that sort of thing at all. If you believe in it, that's fine, I don't care, but I don't. But the book is what it is and I managed to enjoy most of it anyway.
The second half, however, was loaded with psychics and numerology and reincarnation and malevolent spirits and there was a lot of eye-rolling on my part because I'm not into that sort of thing at all. If you believe in it, that's fine, I don't care, but I don't. But the book is what it is and I managed to enjoy most of it anyway.
February 28, 2021
I really found this a page turner, and read it as fast as I possibly could while working. I am not fond of reading books online, but I have to recently, as I am always traveling for work. I think it is not as interesting as a history of the area or the house, as that could have been more detailed, but it was still a very good read. I honestly thought it was fiction when I was 3/4 through, and it makes me not want to ever own a huge home unless I have four or five staff on hand to help battle ghosts. I love architecture, and now am very excited about learning more about these mansions, and the beginning of the book is the best, imo, when Ms. Randall details her childhood battles with bulldozers and the lazy horse rides taken around the area, exploring and dreaming.
October 22, 2015
I was drawn into this haunting story of the Woolworth mansion. And I found Monica Randall's, (the author's), life very interesting. Her life was interwoven with Winfield. She had dreamed about it long before living there.
Winfield seems to be one of those haunted mansions you really don't want to stay in.
The book is very easy to read and is interesting. I had not heard of Long Island's Gold Coast with it's many mansions. I got a better picture of the story, "The Great Gatsby", and the huge mansions that people played in long ago.
Winfield seems to be one of those haunted mansions you really don't want to stay in.
The book is very easy to read and is interesting. I had not heard of Long Island's Gold Coast with it's many mansions. I got a better picture of the story, "The Great Gatsby", and the huge mansions that people played in long ago.
April 12, 2009
I thought this would be an architectural history of the house built by F W Woolworth on the north shore of Long Island. The book turned out to be an account of the author's relationship with the house mostly as a neighbor but for a few years in the 1970s as the resident. Interesting but not the typical architecture book.
January 27, 2014
Absolutely loved this book. Went into it expecting it to be a dry history of a Gold Coast mansion and ended up with a brilliantly told eye witness story of life living in a haunted mansion. Monica Randall is an exceptional writer, weaving a detailed, colorful account of her experiences. It makes you feel as though you are right their with her!
March 26, 2010
This book was a fascinating read about the mansions of the Gold Coast of Long Island. The protagonist is a girl living in one of the mansions built by the Woolworths. The story also has elements of the supernatural.I would recommend it to anyone who wants an interesting and thought provoking read.
December 24, 2012
An excellent book on the mansions of the Gold Coast of Long Island. So many large houses, some standing and some have been taking down due to development. Well researched and written by Monica Randall.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews